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Hurricane Dorian reaching the Bahamas on its track to Florida on Sept. 1, 2019.Photo: Pierre Markuse/Flickr With the havoc Hurricane Dorian brought upon the Bahamas over the past few days, members of Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas have begun battening down the hatches for what may come. If your landscaping company is located near or …
Written by Guest Contributor on The Prepper Journal.
Editor’s Note: A guest submission to The Prepper Journal from Raymond Poole. Raymond Poole is an organic cooking and gardening fanatic. He spends his free time trialing and testing different growing techniques to make his beloved fruit and vegetable garden flourish to full flavor.
Admit it, we want things to happen fast. We’re a society of fast food, fast internet, and instant gratification. But when it comes to growing nutritious food, we have to be patient. Mother Nature usually needs time to work.
But there are exceptions in the vegetable world where gratification, if not instant, isn’t far off. We only need a few weeks to produce some nutritious vegetables and enjoy them for a great lunch or dinner. Imagine having fresh spinach harvested four to six weeks after planting. Even better, a vegetable garden in your backyard will complement that verdant, green lawn and add some color and texture to your landscape.
There are many wholesome veggies you can grow, relatively quickly, a few steps away from your kitchen. Here are five vegetables to get you started.
Spinach
Spinach is an excellent source of minerals, vitamins, potassium, zinc, magnesium, iron, and calcium. And you can harvest it as soon as a month after planting. Sow the seeds into good quality soil and then water.
This is a must-have vegetable if you’re living off the grid. Spinach improves eyesight and cognitive function, combats Alzheimer’s disease and gastric ulcers, and increases blood flow to the brain. Its high content of potassium and its lack of sodium helps maintain good blood pressure and its antioxidants strengthen muscles. It also reduces the chance of heart attacks and strokes.
Carrots
Carrots are excellent as part of a salad, as a snack, and taste great when cooked. They thrive in the USDA’s Hardiness zones 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10. They do need lots of sun, and do well when planted about three to five weeks before the last frost. Select a thin fingerling variety and plant the seeds about 2 inches apart at a depth of ¼ to ½ inch. Water at least 1 inch per week and fertilize four weeks after planting if the soil is lacking organic matter. Don’t use compost. In about six weeks, you’ll have your harvest — and some can be picked even sooner as part of the thinning process.
Carrots offer carbs and fiber, lowers cholesterol and reduces the risk of cancer. It includes vitamin A, which promotes good vision and improves immune functions. Its Biotin enhances metabolism and vitamin K1 promotes bone health and blood clotting. It has potassium that improves blood pressure and vitamin B6 to convert food into energy.
Radishes
Another ideal food for salads, radishes are ready for your table in as little as 21 days after planting. This is a cool weather crop, planted in spring and autumn and two weeks before the last frost. It thrives in sunlight and well-drained soil with a pH level of 6 to 7, according to the Farmer’s Almanac. The soil should be free of rocks. Include organic matter like compost, manure, or leaf mold in the soil before planting.
Rich in fiber, radishes also aid the digestive system and help combat several forms of cancer. They improve cardiovascular health, relieve respiratory disorders, lower blood pressure, help manage diabetes, and protect the kidneys.
Lettuce
Lettuce grows in colder temperatures and is ready to begin harvesting 30 days after planting. Plant in the early spring when temperatures are between 45°F and 65°F. It thrives in moist, cool conditions and can tolerate a light frost. It will flower or bolt to seed if the weather gets too hot.
The soil should be loose, moist, well-drained, and fertilized. It favors acidic conditions. So include some compost into the soil. Plant seeds in rows of 12 to 15-inches long. Leave a space of 18-inches between rows. Thin the growing seedlings to 4-inches apart to prevent overcrowding. You can harvest over time, by cutting outer leaves as they mature, or take the full plant when leaves are full size, but still tender. If you wait until the lettuce is too mature, it ends up tasting bitter.
There are several types of lettuce. They include Romaine, which is sweet and crunchy. Crisphead or Iceberg, which has a crisp texture and mild taste. Butterhead (also known as Boston or Bibb) has large, soft, green leaves that are sweet tasting. Romaine has the greatest benefits.
Lettuce, in general, has only 12 calories for one shredded cup. It prevents the build-up of plaque. It includes relaxing and sleep-inducing properties. Its minerals improve energy. It’s an ideal food for anyone monitoring their blood sugar or wishes to maintain their weight.
Arugula
The green leaves of the arugula plant have a peppery taste and are ideal for salads. Once mature, cut the leaves off the plant and enjoy. Leaves will continue to grow back each year.
The plant thrives in well-drained, moist soil with a pH level of 6 to 6.5. Add compost to the soil before sowing. Do the composting in the fall. and plant the arugula in the spring. The plant tolerates cool weather and an occasional frost, so plant as early as April in daytime temperatures above 40 degrees. Select a sunny location for planting, although it tolerates some shade. The plant grows 1 to 2 feet tall and is ready for harvest about four weeks after planting.
You can either plant the seeds in rows or scatter them over an area. The seeds should be about one-quarter inch deep and 1-inch apart. Once the leaves develop, you can harvest.
Arugula includes vitamin K, which assures healthy bones and a better immune system. It also has cancer-fighting properties, increases metabolism, improves eyesight, and enhances mineral absorption.
Growing your own nutritious foods provides many benefits. You’ll save time and money with fewer visits to the grocery store. You’ll also be prepared if the store shelves are empty!
Be Safe out there and be sure to check out The Prepper Journal Store and follow The Prepper Journal on Facebook!
The post Nutritious Food Plants You Can Harvest Quickly appeared first on The Prepper Journal.
Want to know how to naturally deter wasps? It may surprise you how easy and effective this shortlist has in store!
RELATED: Natural Ways to Repel Grasshoppers
If you’re reading this, chances are you have been stung at least once by a wasp. Speaking from personal experience, the sting from a wasp is very painful.
If you remain calm while in their presence, they will leave you alone, as wasps are not out to harm you. Usually, when a human gets stung, it’s because the wasp feels threatened in some way.
Most of the time, the number one reason for humans being stung is due to waving of your arms to shoo it away, which wasps take as an annoyance or a threat. You do it enough times, you will get stung.
With that being said, most people (myself included) are afraid of wasps. Most will turn to pest control methods that are meant to kill the wasps, but, the truth is wasps are beneficial to our ecosystem and we should learn to deter them, not kill them.
Once again, I turned to the internet for my research. Here are four deterrent methods that seem to be the most popular and most effective.
Want to know a brilliant way of how to keep wasps from building nests. Wasps are known to be very territorial.
By hanging up a fake wasp nest outside of your home, you reduce the chances of wasps constructing nests of their own. They will think another colony is already established and they will move on to another location.
The fake wasp nest, shown in the photo above, can be purchased here on Amazon.
Here’s how to make your own fake wasp nest:
Place the following plants throughout your garden to deter wasps. Not only will these plants chase away the wasps, but they will also add beauty to your garden. It’s a win-win!
Check out my article Plants That Repel Insects And Pests You Can Grow to learn what pests you can deter this summer with these beautiful and beneficial plants.
RELATED: 9 Ways To Repel Rats For A Rodent-Free Home
Slice a fresh cucumber into thin slices and arrange them in a single layer on an aluminum pie plate, dish, or cake pan. The point is, the cucumber must be fresh when you slice it and the pan must be aluminum.
The cucumber reacts with the aluminum and gives off a chemical reaction/scent that is undetectable to humans but drives wasps and yellow-jackets away and makes them flee the area.
Place the sliced cucumber around the patio, deck, or picnic table.
Note: This method is intended to be used as a deterrent only.
Check out this homemade wasp repellent by ehowhome:
So there are your all-natural ways of deterring wasps. Apart from these methods, always remember wasps don’t usually react unless they are annoyed or threatened.
Simply keep your distance and make use of the information given above.
Do you have an all-natural deterrent for wasps that you would like to share? Tell us about them in the comments section below!
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Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on July 22, 2016, and has been updated for quality and relevancy.
Discover survival uses for shipping containers and how you can use a sea container for more than just a tiny home! RELATED: Tiny Homes: Take Your Home With You When SHTF In this article: Guest House or Spare Room Underground Shelter Shipping Container Indoor Garden Storage Shed Workshop Emergency Shelter Off-Grid Family Home Innovative Uses for …
This article was originally published by at Brandon Smith at Alt-Market.
This past week was an interesting exercise in false expectations and assumptions. Once again, trade war theatrics were used to stall a stock market plunge as insinuations of a possible “deal” were made by Donald Trump, followed by China’s claim that maybe, just maybe, they would not immediately issue a new round of tariffs right now, but possibly tomorrow, or in a month…
Then, all hell broke loose again when only a few days later both sides jumped into a new round of tariffs leaving markets confused and algo trading computers bewildered, so much so that sometimes they even buy on bad news thinking it’s good news. This is the problem with the Pavlovian response mechanism – You train a dog to salivate at the sound of a bell because he thinks he’s going to get a treat, but then what if you change the bell, or the treat, or the entire dynamic of the process? The dog’s whole world is turned upside down and he curls up in a ball in the corner of the room to make the mental anguish stop.
This is exactly the kind of reaction the globalists are looking for, hence the stop/start insanity of trade discussions, not to mention the dove/hawk behavior of the Federal Reserve. Everything people once thought predictable is being deliberately discombobulated.
Ultimately the circus and the confusion are only products of peoples biases. They want to believe they will get a treat if they act a certain way when certain indicators signal. They want to believe the trade war can be won, or at least that Trump is trying to win. They want to believe that the Fed will save them with a surge of QE. They want to believe that the instability will be smoothed away by the hands of the political and banking elites. But what if the elites have no intention of doing this? What if they WANT an economic crisis?
In terms of the trade war, there are some facts that do not support some of the assumptions out there on either side of the debate. These facts run contrary to the mainstream narrative, as well as some narratives within the alternative media. On the conservative side, I’m seeing a kind of artificial patriotic fervor; an organized attempt using memes and propaganda to convince conservatives that the trade war requires mindless fealty to the anti-China message.
First, to be clear, I think China is a despicable communist regime with a record of human rights abuses, but that’s what makes it a rather perfect distraction for Americans on the political right. I’m reminded of the war fever against Iraq after 9/11, and how so many conservatives bought into the very thin claim of Iraqi involvement and the lies about WMDs. We don’t like dictators, and we don’t like China, but conservatives are being duped into thinking the trade war against China is an ideological crusade that will lead to a better America or a better world. This is not what the trade war is intended to do.
Let’s start with the assumptions (as well as lies and disinformation) surrounding the trade war and then look at the evidence that debunks them…
Fallacy #1: China Is Dependent On The US Consumer
I’m not sure where this idea comes from specifically, but it’s not based on anything tangible. I sometimes wonder if the notion that the world depends on the American consumer for its bread and butter is perhaps a kind of appeal to people’s narcissism? Making the average American feel superior, or feel special, simply by telling them that their steady debt-based consumption keeps the engine of the global economy running.
In the case of China, here are the facts:
The US only comprises around 18% of Chinese exports. While this is a nice piece of the pie, it’s hardly enough leverage to bring down China’s economy. China would suffer profit losses in certain sectors as well as a recession, but not the kind of crisis that some in the alternative media are predicting.
Around 40% of China’s GDP is generated domestically, and 80% of its GDP growth comes from private consumption. For quite some time I have warned that China was shifting its economic model from an export-based system to a more self-reliant domestic-based system and that this might be an indication of a coming economic war with the US. As it turns out, this is exactly what has happened. Since 2010, China’s domestic market has grown dramatically, indicating that China has no intention of relying on the US consumer as an economic pillar.
The US consumer is almost tapped out. While retail sales in certain areas remain steady and this has been used by the mainstream media and the Fed to promote the idea that the economy is still “going strong”, this is not the big picture. The reality is that US consumption is driven by historic levels of debt. Household debt is now FAR above levels last seen after the last financial crisis, with total debt at $1.2 trillion higher today than its last peak in 2008.
The downturn in retail is more obvious in the steady closings of thousands of outlets in 2019 alone. This year has seen a 29% increase in store closings compared to 2018, even though 2018 saw a considerable spike in store shutdowns. Around 12,000 stores are slated to close this year.
So the question is, with the US consumer stretched thin by debt and US retail on the verge of a recessionary plunge, why would China feel threatened by the loss of the American consumer market? They are losing it already by attrition. The truth is they aren’t threatened, which is why, as I predicted last year, the trade war continues unabated despite the fact that so many people argued that China would “quickly fold” to Trump’s demands.
I realize this is not what many people want to hear, but it is foolish to get caught up in a farcical mob mentality and ignore the fundamentals in the trade war. If you think that the US is going to “win” based on leverage, you are sorely mistaken. The US is in no better shape economically than China; in many ways, we are much worse off.
Fallacy #2: Manufacturing Will Come Back To The US
This is perhaps the most persistent and fraudulent “carrot” that has been held out to the American people over the years to get them to go along with certain destructive fiscal policies. Whether it be dollar devaluation or a trade war that goes nowhere, the American people are always being told that manufacturing jobs are “right around the corner”. People buy into it because they desire a return to the golden years of American economic expansion, and there are a number of reasons why this is an absurd fantasy.
First, as it stands now manufacturing in the US makes up only 11% of total economic output. I don’t think that many people understand the consequences of this. We have a 70% retail and service-based economy, meaning the majority of US citizens in the job market have no experience whatsoever in the manufacturing sector, and the average US company has no guidelines for how to establish a manufacturing base using the American labor pool.
Second, American labor expects a certain level of wage compensation as well as union organization that makes manufacturing far more expensive here than in China or in other parts of the world. The average factory worker in China makes around $3.60 per hour – how exactly would the American market ever compete with this? Tariff’s alone are not enough to force corporations to spend the billions necessary to rebuild factories in the US and hire American workers at $15+ an hour. It’s just not going to happen.
Third, there are many places besides China to build a manufacturing base. No company is going to bring its factories to the US when they can build in Vietnam, or Taiwan, etc. In many cases, it is cheaper to ship raw materials and products to these countries, have them finished by workers in Asia, and then have the items shipped back, than it is to build the product from start to finish in the US.
Fourth, we can talk all day about patriotism, but in the end, the average American is not going to buy “Made in the USA” for most goods out of a sense of patriotic duty if the price is twice as much or more. Walmart and Amazon dominate the retail market for a reason – they sell things cheaply.
Fifth, raising tariffs on foreign exporters would only work to encourage consumption of domestically manufactured goods if the US already had a large manufacturing base and produced all the items other nations produce. Entering into a trade war without a resilient manufacturing sector is backward. You don’t fight a trade war to get manufacturing to come back, you fight a trade war to promote the goods you already manufacture.
If Trump had really intended to bring factories back to the US, he should have given corporations tax break incentives in exchange for creating manufacturing jobs on US soil. Instead, he gave corporations tax break incentives for nothing.
Fallacy #3: China Will Starve Without American Agricultural Products
Uh, no. This is a very weird argument. It’s as if some people assume that the US is China’s only potential source for food. China buys agricultural products from all over the world and has alternative sources for foods like soybeans and pork, including Brazil, Mexico, and Russia.
Prices will rise in China, sure, but nowhere near the point of collapse. Again, the Chinese are not reliant on the US for anything, so, the idea that the US has overt leverage in the trade war is simply not true.
Fallacy #4: The World Will Side With The US Over China
This is a prime question – would the world choose the US consumer base or China’s cheap export market if they had to pick only one? As noted earlier, the US consumer is nearly tapped out. China has the largest import/export market in the world. The US has little manufacturing to speak of. I also question the validity of the idea that Europe or most other nations have loyalty to American markets.
Think about it; do they really? Do they see us as indispensable? Or is the rest of the world being sent on a path towards globalism while the US is being made to look like a barbaric and archaic throwback, a Neanderthal man that is desperately clinging to power and is willing to drag everyone else down with him if he doesn’t get his way?
Many in the liberty movement understand that this is not the case. We know that the globalists have sabotaged this country from within, and we know that they are using Trump as controlled opposition and a useful puppet in this task. But the majority of the rest of the world does NOT understand this. If there is an economic crash which sends shockwaves through multiple economies, the trade war will most likely be blamed along with Trump and his “populist” supporters. The rest of the world will see us as the villains, because they do not understand the nature of 4th Generation Warfare, nor do they understand the globalists’ strategy of “order out of chaos”.
The narrative that has been pushed in the mainstream is that China is the victim of US aggression and that the trade war and the economic crisis are purely a product of Trump’s madness. Who do you honestly think the world will eventually side with?
Fallacy #5: The Trade War Will Be Over Soon
We’ve been hearing this for well over a year and a half now. Trade wars are “easy to win”, right? Every couple of months the trade war deal hype is recycled and every couple of months the markets are hit with renewed disappointment. The latest trade talks are set for October and if they happen at all, it is unlikely they will result in anything of significance. At most, they will be heralded as the “start of a great deal” and both sides will claim “progress was made”, and then, once again, nothing will happen and the conflict will accelerate. You would think people would have figured it out by now, but the investment world learns very slowly and functions solely on blind hope. At the very least, economic analysts are starting to realize that no deal is coming and that the situation is only going to get tenser. In fact, it is designed to get more tense.
Fallacy #6: The US Dollar Is Untouchable
This claim revolves mainly around the idea that because the US dollar is the world reserve currency, the US has the upper hand in trade negotiations and the rest of the world will follow the currency leader because there “is no other option”. I disagree.
As Bank of England governor Mark Carney has openly admitted, the plan is to replace the dollar as the world reserve currency anyway. How? Well with a global cryptocurrency, of course, just as I warned about in my article ‘The Globalist One World Currency Will Look A Lot Like Bitcoin’.
Carney’s mention of Bitcoin and Facebook’s Libra as models for this currency system seems to have confused some people. Carney did NOT say that Libra should be the next world reserve currency. He said that the next world reserve currency will look LIKE Libra. But how do the elites plan to institute such a monetary system and force people to go along with a cashless society?
They need a massive crash event, and they need the US dollar to go the way of the dodo. It seems rather convenient to me that China has been preparing for just such an event. While many analysts point out that China has generated intense amounts of debt over the past decade, they seem to forget that this was a requirement in order for China to attach the Yuan to the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights basket, which is the foundation for a global currency mechanism. Chinese economic officials and the globalist both argue that the current monetary system, based on a single national currency (the dollar) as the world reserve is inherently unstable.
Their solution? A basket of currencies monitored by the IMF, followed by a single digital currency mechanism. I would note that China and the globalists have consistently hinted that a major economic crisis event will act as a catalyst for this “reset” in the world monetary order and that the dollar must be replaced in the process.
China has also been stockpiling large amounts of gold for the past decade. This would indicate they are expecting a monetary devaluation event, most specifically in the dollar. It’s as if they know something the rest of us only suspect.
The trade war is the perfect cover for the collapse of the US dollar that the globalists desire. While some people suggest that China’s dumping of US treasuries is the “nuclear option” in the trade war, this is not exactly true. The REAL nuclear option is for China to dump the US dollar as the reserve trade mechanism and go to a basket of currencies, which the IMF will happily aid them with. As the largest exporter/importer in the world, China can drop the dollar and most of their trading partners will follow their lead. The US economy would crumble in response, as the dollar is the only thread holding our system together.
This is the ugly truth behind the trade war. It is nothing more than a farce, a smoke and mirrors distraction leading up the dismantling of the US dollar and paving the way for the globalist one-world digital currency system. Whether or not the plan succeeds relies on ample resistance from people who see the danger ahead, but make no mistake, the globalists are not afraid of an economic crash or the decline of the dollar; they WANT these things to happen so they can establish even more centralized control.
Having a stockpile of food will keep you thriving during an emergency or disaster. In most cases, canned and dry foods will last a couple years at most. Although this might suffice for some preppers, freeze dried meals are the ultimate best case scenario. Why? Freeze dried food completely locks out moisture, is fully prepared and has a shelf life of up to 25 years. Yes, 25 years!
This means no more rotating out cans and boxes every couple, checking expiration dates and replenishing food that is no longer good. Let’s be honest, life gets busy and rotating your stockpile can easily get lost in the to-do list. The last thing you want is to attempt replenishing when you hear the warning alert of a possible disaster. Having a weeks worth of freeze dried meals is a wise investment.
Freeze dried foods should be kept in a climate control location to maintain freshness. Most cans are sustainable for 25 years and pouches up to 7-30 years (depending on the brand). Because the packaging is vacuum sealed and moisture has no way in, they are safe from bacteria and mold. The weight of freeze dried foods is minimal, making this a very good option when on the move, camping or only able to pack what you can carry.
The most convenient part of these meals is that all you need is a pot and water and voila, a full meal awaits you! Be mindful that many freeze dried meals are pretty high in sodium so drink plenty of water and try to balance the nutrition with low or no sodium foods.
Some of our favorite freeze dried meals include:
We recommend checking out various brands. Do some taste testing before investing too much. Purchase a pouch or two of different brands to test. This may be more expensive than purchasing in bulk, but you’ll learn what you like. We have a few well known brands that we recommend:
All of these brands are available on Amazon. We encourage you to check out some of the user reviews and if you have experience with any freeze dried meals, share them with our community of preppers!
Hiring a guide is the first good decision you can make while planning a big mountain objective. Not only will you be led into the best zones and safely escorted up and down the smartest routes, but you also won’t have to worry about the trip’s logistics: they’ll often handle route planning, gear, and even meal prep. But not all guides …
After getting lost for five days in the wilderness at the border of Idaho and Montana, Kaden Laga is happy to be alive. The 25-year-old Utah resident went missing in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness during a horseback riding trip with his family, CNN reported Monday. After volunteering to hike back on foot because one of the …
Bank of America strategist is warning that we should enjoy 2019 right now, while we still can. A note led by top strategist Michael Hartnett, says investors will have to grapple with the long-running bull market as it limps into 2020 because the “big top is coming down.”
“We are bullish on risk assets in 2019 as bearish investor sentiment and the irrationality of central banks and bond markets allow an ‘overshoot’ in credit and equity prices,” he wrote. “We are bearish on risk assets in 2020 as recession/policy impotence/bond bubble risks induce Big Top in credit and equities.”
“The 2020s are likely to witness a more forceful attempt to create inflation,” he said. “Even the slightest sign of success will lead to dramatic rotation… away from the deflationary winners of the 2010s to the inflationary losers.” But Hartnett says stocks could still rise too.
Bank of America issued a similar ominous warning back in July. Back then, Hartnett and chief economist, Ethan Harris wrote a piece on the law of large numbers, arguing that an ever-expanding list of uncertainties would likely undercut the markets going into year-end. At the time, the main concerns were the trade war, a hawkish Fed, Brexit, Quitaly, and Iran oil sanctions. Bank of America once again warns a similar set of concerns could come to a head and halt the current rally in global equity markets.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-07-21/bank-america-enjoy-it-while-it-lasts
BofA economists are becoming concerned that the tariffs are permanent, and that there will be no de-escalation of the trade war. That means higher prices for a majority of goods and services are here to stay at a time when many Americans struggle to make ends meet. According to ZeroHedge, the deadline for avoiding auto tariffs is mid-November. Additionally, there is a steady drift toward some kind of currency war: in the form of either countervailing duties or outright intervention. Countries that benefit from production shifting out of China, including Vietnam and other ASEAN countries, could face at least a serious threat of US tariffs.
Why live on the bubble when you can experience life inside it? It’s an appropriate question to ponder while gazing at the forest from inside this unusual dome home in upstate New York. Made to maximize views while maintaining partial privacy, this geodesic bubble tent is equal parts glamping destination and fishbowl. It’s the perfect place …
